Livinghouse

Hotels devote a large chunk of space and budget to the bathroom portion of their guest rooms. It’s now a common rule that bathrooms in new hotels should be around 30% of the total room space. This marks a 50% increase from the old 20% rule that was the norm a few years ago.

It’s big business, that’s for sure, but why have bathrooms become such a focus? With ever increasing competition from other hotels, and sites like Airbnb offering privately rented apartments within the same price bracket, many hotels are banking on ultra-luxurious rooms to justify their cost to consumers. Hotels have realized that, with competition and flighty customers, they must take risks with their design.

Luckily, as end-users, we can judge new designs on our travels and avoid the possibility of ‘so-so’ renovations. Here are some of the design choice from hotels to implement into your new remodel:

Steam Showers and Body Jets

When you visit a hotel, you’re putting your trust into their hands – to keep you in comfort for your stay. By providing a better finish than you’re used to at home; it can leave a lasting impression and fondness for the brand. What better way to ‘wow’ than with a bathroom straight out of a spa? It’s not uncommon for rooms to boast steam shower enclosures, where you can sit and sweat it out then stand up and take a shower without bracing the cold room outside!  Or, how about a massage from body jets shooting pressurised water at you from all angles?

Sliding Bathroom Doors

Reconfiguring a bathroom’s layout is difficult; there’s a reason it was designed that way, after all. But by thinking differently, you can fit more of the features and furniture you desire into your awkward space. Sliding doors give you flexibility and increased space to play with.

Playing with texture

We’ve looked at how the natural look has increased in popularity, particularly in 2016. Commercial designers are using this trend too; using large swathes of marble or textured wall panels as an alternative to conventional tiling patterns.

Banned

Another lesson we can learn from hotels bathroom design is the features that have been forgotten in recent years. Shower curtains, small tile patterns and wall sconces have all gone extinct and for good reason. Shower curtains and tiles with lots of grout lines are labour intensive to keep clean. Wall sconces and low lighting look dated and provide insufficient light. We say good riddance to these features and encourage you to source more modern alternatives.

Glass bath screens come in all guises, look superior and last a lot longer than their dated relative. In regards to lighting; LED downlighters and vanity mirror lights give a warm, or cool, glow around the room.